To improve the performance of our website, show the most relevant news products and targeted advertising, we collect technical impersonal information about you, including through the tools of our partners. You can find a detailed description of how we use your data in our Privacy Policy. For a detailed description of the technologies, please see the Cookie and Automatic Logging Policy.

By clicking on the "Accept & Close" button, you provide your explicit consent to the processing of your data to achieve the above goal.

You can withdraw your consent using the method specified in the Privacy Policy.

Mikhail Saakashvili, former president of Georgia and former governor of Ukraine’s Odessa Province, created a spectacle that had even Western media shaking their heads Tuesday: when police came to search his house , he climbed atop its roof, screamed insults at Ukrainian President Poroshenko and threatened to jump off if anyone touched him.

He was dragged away by a squad of security service officers. Saakashvili, "a one-time darling of the West," according to New York Times, is wanted in Georgia for multiple criminal charges and now in Ukraine, for allegedly helping coup plotters. He had already been stripped of his Ukrainian citizenship.

Screaming to his supporters who gathered below, Saakashvili denounced the president as a thief and a traitor while insulting other figures while he was at it.

The demarche ended after a squad of intelligence service officers dragged the ex-president away from the edge of the roof. The officers took the politician to the police van, but a group of Saakashvili supporters managed to surround the van and free their idol, still with handcuffs on his wrists. According to a Daily Mail report, National Guard riot police were dispatched to help Ukrainian security services personnel release the van but they soon found themselves surrounded by a crowd of protesters.

Despite the use of tear gas, the protesters freed Saakashvili, who then led a demonstration toward the Verkhovna Rada building, where the country's parliament meets, and said he will stay there "until the people make these falsifiers resign," according to Ukrainian News.

Ukrainian General Prosecutor Yuri Lutsenko has given Saakashvili until morning to turn himself in, saying he will demand home arrest, not deportation, for the politician.

Even Western media couldn't hide their disdain for the political drama, with New York Times calling the scene a "spectacle that only buttressed [Russia's] view that Ukraine is a chaotic shambles incapable of running its own affairs."

In their report on the development, Reuters noted that "the chaotic scenes of [Saakashvili's] detention and escape are likely to undermine the image of stability that Ukraine's leadership are keen to present to foreign backers."

"Tuesday morning's arrest was the latest chapter in the bizarre and incongruous recent biography of a man who was once considered the reformist hope of the post-Soviet region," reported The Guardian.

The Kremlin reacted to the situation with bewilderment and humor.

Talking to journalists, President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, "you know, we're not used to reacting to statements made by people who are sitting on roofs."

"We are observing events overall with interest. Of course, this is Ukraine's headache. This is something you wouldn't wish even on an enemy, that's how I'd put it," he added.

The comedy does not end there, though. When asked what exactly Saakashvili is wanted for, Lutsenko reportedly said that — wait for it — "pro-Kremlin forces" led by Saakashvili himself were attempting to organize a coup in Ukraine. According to Lutsenko, the operation is supposedly funded by a runaway Ukrainian oligarch, a member of a criminal group that has direct connections to Russian counter-intelligence services, according to video by 112.UA.

The Guardian reports that Saakashvili responded by insisting "it was Poroshenko who was acting to benefit the Russian president."

Saakashvili had been appointed by Poroshenko, an old friend, to help energize and transform Odessa in 2015, but by the end of the next year the relationship had ruptured and Saakashvili stepped down, vowing to oppose his former partner. Allegations of corruption, naturally, have been lobbed back and forth ever since.

By clicking the "Post" button, you provide your explicit consent to the processing of your Facebook account data to enable you to comment to the news on our website using this account. You can find a detailed description of how we use your data in our Privacy Policy.

By checking this box, you provide your explicit consent to the processing of your personal data to create an account on the Sputnik website for posting comments to news. You can find a detailed description of how we use your data in our Privacy Policy.
You can withdraw your consent by using the feedback form or the method specified in the Privacy Policy.

* All fields are required

Please confirm your e-mail to continue. Confirmation instructions have been sent to

Hello,
!

We are committed to protecting your personal information and we have updated our Privacy Policy to comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), a new EU regulation that went into effect on May 25, 2018.

Please review our Privacy Policy. It contains details about the types of data we collect, how we use it, and your data protection rights.

Since you already shared your personal data with us when you created your personal account, to continue using it, please check the box below:

I agree to the processing of my personal data for the purpose of creating a personal account on this site, in compliance with the Privacy Policy.

If you do not want us to continue processing your data, please click here to delete your account.

promotes the use of narcotic / psychotropic substances, provides information on their production and use;

contains links to viruses and malicious software;

is part of an organized action involving large volumes of comments with identical or similar content ("flash mob");

“floods” the discussion thread with a large number of incoherent or irrelevant messages;

violates etiquette, exhibiting any form of aggressive, humiliating or abusive behavior ("trolling");

doesn’t follow standard rules of the English language, for example, is typed fully or mostly in capital letters or isn’t broken down into sentences.

The administration has the right to block a user’s access to the page or delete a user’s account without notice if the user is in violation of these rules or if behavior indicating said violation is detected.